


The Common Good

by lucimarlena



Series: Una Volta [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Developing Relationship, End of a Friendship, Friends to Enemies, Gen, High School, M/M, New Packs, Pack Dynamics, Regret
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-28
Updated: 2012-08-28
Packaged: 2017-11-13 02:15:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/498340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lucimarlena/pseuds/lucimarlena
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Melissa looks at him with a hard gaze and says, “You were his best friend,” before going back to her car and driving off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Common Good

_ The Common Good _

 

Stiles has been avoiding Scott since the end of the school year.

 

It’s been pretty easy, all things considering.

 

He got a job working at the local second-hand book store in town and any time he doesn’t spend there, earning money for college, he was either at home with his dad or in the subway station with the pack.

 

At the same time, Scott has been working with Deaton, helping out his mom, and spending all his remaining time with Allison.

 

Or, if school gossip is right (read: the pack eavesdropping on Allison and Lydia’s conversation at lunch a couple weeks back), Scott is busy mooning over Allison after a recent break-up. Stiles is sure that Scott “won’t stop believin’” that he and Allison are end-game.

 

Yeah, because things worked out so well for Romeo and Juliet.

 

Everyone wants to wake up and find that the “love of their lives” (c’mon, both Romeo and Juliet were kids, just like them; how can they think that they’ve _truly_ found the person they want to spend the rest of their lives with?) had committed suicide thinking that the other had killed themselves. It’s just _so_ romantic.

 

It sets his heart all aflutter.

 

Once in a while, like every week or so, he’ll sometimes get a call or text from Scott. Usually he’ll just ignore it, but sometimes he’ll respond with a “Yeah, been busy with work and helping Dad out with stuff” or “Sorry, been meaning to talk - work’s been really busy tho,” or his personal favourite, “Yeah we should totally hang out soon.” He never gets a reply to that and halfway through the summer he stops even looking at the messages from Scott.

 

Instead, he hangs out with Derek and the rest of the pack.

 

Working at the second-hand book store has actually been really helpful. There was this one book that he found, the cover completely battered and barely legible, that had a bunch of homeopathic remedies that were supposed to help with everything known to man. One of them had a specific type of wolfsbane in it. At first, both Derek and Stiles thought it was supposed to kill or wound a wolf and that it was a Hunter’s book, but after some researching, Stiles found that it was the opposite. That the book was probably from a Shaman and this specific type of wolfsbane in the remedy was supposed to help soothe the wolf.

 

The next full moon they put it to the test.

 

It was the first full moon that Erica and Boyd were in full control of their wolf.

 

When he wasn’t working, or pretending to work while looking for books to help the pack, he was hanging out with the pack. By now, they had a routine. On Thursdays (because Thursday was comic book day), he, Erica and Isaac would bring their comics to the station and they would geek out for an hour or two.

 

Maybe three.

 

Okay, more like four and a half, but it was crucial pack bonding time! Nothing brings a pack together than all three of them agreeing that Superman was their least favourite superhero and that yeah, Professor Xavier and Magneto were definitely doing it.

 

Stiles and Boyd would watch soccer together whenever a game was on and they could both catch it.

 

And Derek, well, he and Derek would mostly just sit around together. Stiles would get a book from work, pack related or not, and read out loud from the couch as Derek sat on the floor, leaning on the front of the couch, head resting on Stiles’ knees as he listened.

 

Most of the time, they did things together under the guise that whatever they were doing, they did in order to help the pack. Reading books, roaming the woods, going to the library, all of it was to help the pack become prepared.

 

Prepared for what, they never really discussed.

 

They didn’t want to burst the bubble of safety and content they had created that summer.

 

They knew that the Alpha pack was coming and that Peter’s “help” that he gave the pack with the Kanima and Gerard was only temporary. More dangerous things were to come.

 

But, to be honest, Stiles didn’t want to think about that.

 

He didn’t want to think about Scott, Peter, the Alpha pack, or anything. He just wanted to be.

 

To just be.

 

For a little while.

 

And with Derek, he could. Sometimes they would just stay within each other’s company, not saying anything and just feeling content, knowing that no matter what the other would protect them.

 

Unfortunately, this couldn’t last forever, and Stiles knew that they couldn’t do this anymore. They needed to work.

 

 

School started back up again and the Alpha pack haven’t made their move yet.

 

They’ve discovered that there are three, maybe four, Alphas and that they are all experienced fighters. Derek has never dealt with something like this and both he and Stiles have been wracking their brains for strategies on how to deal with the threat.

 

What they know is that the Alphas are smart. They, like Peter, think ahead and have contigency plans for everything. Not only that, but all of them are strong; stronger than any Alpha with a pack of Betas.

 

It seems like everything is going to fall apart before it even began, but instead of acting rashly and fighting without thinking, Derek entrusts Stiles with a plan. A plan to try and get the Alpha pack off their back and on to someone else’s.

 

It involves Peter.

 

Peter and the predictability of his actions.

 

Soon, their plan was falling into place.

 

 

School was tense.

 

Stiles had been ignoring Scott in the halls and in class, had change his cell number, and had been hanging out exclusively with the pack. It didn’t take long for Scott to get the message: Stiles had a pack, a real one, and Scott was not welcome.

 

It was a week later when shit began to hit the fan.

 

Scott and Jackson were practically attached to the hip in school along with Lydia and sometimes Danny.

 

To the human eye, it looked like Stiles and Scott had a fight that resulted in them no longer being BFFs. There was a line drawn in the sand; if you were on Stiles’ side, you didn’t talk to Scott or anyone who sided with Scott, if you sided with Scott, then you didn’t associate with Stiles or his misfit friends.

 

Scott had Jackson, Lydia and Danny (because where Jackson went, they followed), while Stiles had the pack.

 

It was clear that the two boys had joined a pack, and it was on a Friday that Stiles realized just how committed to a pack he was.

 

Scott had joined Peter and had fully submitted to him. Based on what Isaac and Erica could tell with their senses, Scott was now a full member of Peter’s pack. Both he and Jackson stunk of him, as well as Lydia.

 

So it was official, Scott and Stiles were now enemies.

 

And their plan had begun.

 

 

It was a month later when everything came falling into place.

 

 

Derek had used his knowledge of his Uncle against him; he went to the Alpha pack before Peter even had a chance to.

 

He told them how Peter had killed his sister to be an Alpha, how he called suspicion on their kind by going on a killing spree, and then changing teens against their will. He would then leave the pups to fend for themselves, not teaching them about control or discretion; essentially leaving them on their own in a town now filled with Hunters.

 

Derek told them that the only reason that there were Hunters in the area was because of Peter and his actions. If he hadn’t called so much attention to himself in his rage, the Hale pack would have been the quiet and peaceful pack they were known to be.

 

Not only that, he told them of how he had savaged a girl in a public place, how he lost control, and how Derek had no choice but to kill him.

 

Only to have his Uncle maniuplate the girl into bringing him back from the dead.

 

He told them of Peter’s character, how he would feign loyalty and trust in order to get close to a pack. Peter would try to seem helpful and unassuming as he used the people around him to suit his own needs and to gain power. Once his needs have been met, he would turn on them. Brutally.

 

And with no remorse.

 

Derek pleaded with the Alpha pack to let him and his pack be. They were young, but they were fiercely loyal and learned quickly. They were no match to the Alpha pack, and they didn’t want to be. All they wanted to do was continue to live in Beacon Hills, peacefully.

 

He asked the Alpha pack to show mercy.

 

He asked that they see who the real threat was.

 

 

They got their answer.

 

 

Peter’s pack was run out of Beacon Hills.

 

Jackson, Scott, and Lydia had left notes to their families saying that they were running away, that they felt trapped in Beacon Hills.

 

Stiles knew the truth.

 

They were running from the Alpha pack.

 

And they wouldn’t stop running.

 

Not if they wanted to live.

 

 

It was three months later when Stiles’s actions really caught up with him.

 

He was coming home from school when he saw Melissa McCall’s car in the driveway. She was waiting for him on the porch, clutching a piece of paper in her hands.

 

Stiles didn’t really want to talk to the used-to-be mother-figure of his life. It just made him remember everything; the good, the bad, Scott.

 

He didn’t need that right now.

 

He didn’t need it ever.

 

He moved on, he has friends now, better friends. Loyal friends, people who wouldn’t forget about him or push him aside.

 

And Derek. He has Derek.

 

He doesn’t need a reminder of the past, but he makes his way over to Melissa anyways.

 

“Hello, Ms. McCall,” he nods as he fiddles with his keys. Things have been tense between Melissa and the Stillinski families ever since Scott left. Stiles knew that she blamed him for Scott leaving and ignoring him and his Dad seemd to be the only way that she could cope.

 

Seeing her here today made Stiles very confused, and nervous as hell.

 

Straightening her back, Melissa nodded in greeting, “Stiles.”

 

They stood awkwardly on the porch together in silence before Melissa cleared her throat, “I’m not here to confront you or blame you, even though you probably deserve it.” Stiles can’t help but silently agree with her before she shakes her head and continues, “But, I was cleaning Scott’s room,” she falters over her son’s name, “and I found this.”

 

She taps the envelope in her hand. Stiles looks down at the plain white evelope and back up at Melissa. “He left a note, a real one, for me to explain things and I found this with it,” she looks down at her shaking hands. “I don’t know everything that happened, but I know that Scott loved you and that he left this for you,” she hands over the envelope.

 

Stiles takes the evelope with a steady hand, not believing what’s happening.

 

Melissa looks at him with a hard gaze and says, “You were his best friend,” before going back to her car and driving off.

 

Unable to help himself, Stiles opens the letter. He unfolds the lined piece of paper and sees the three words jumping out at him through the tear marks on the page.

 

Stiles falls on his knees and cries on the porch until Derek comes, what seems like hours later but was probably minutes, and helps him up to his room.

 

He holds Stiles as he cries, hands clutching to the piece of paper; the last remaining piece of his best friend, of their friendship.

 

Derek holds Stiles until he can’t cry anymore and he’s fallen into a fitful sleep.

 

He holds him, wishing that the boy in his arms didn’t have to lose his friend; another person he cared for.

 

Derek holds Stiles until he falls asleep, listening to Stiles’ heartbeat to make sure the boy in his arms is safe.

 

To make sure that Stiles knows he’s cared for.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So, it looks like I had some time today to finish this.
> 
> Stiles' piece is done, now I want to write Scott's side and then I feel like the friendship break-up will be done. I'll have Scott's letter to Stiles in there as well as what happened with Peter's pack and yeah... Generally just Scott's side of the situation.
> 
> Yep.
> 
> Damn, Melissa McCall made me feel super angsty and sad. Note to self: never piss a mama bear off.
> 
> I need to go and eat some chocolate or watch Disney to get my happy up.


End file.
